Containers

Ingame symbols for different sizes of containers, from left to right: small, medium and large.

Containers (often referred to as cans) are in-game items that can be assembled in the item hangar of a station or Upwell structure, placed in a ship's cargo hold or deployed in space as a way to store, share and sort items. There are five different container types that can be bought on the market, which differ in their functionality and purpose.

• Containers can not be put into other containers, therefore it is impossible to build any kind of 'folder tree'.
• Items inside a container can not be repackaged, repaired, contracted, sold or delivered - they have to be moved to the item hangar for these actions.
• A ship can not reload ammunition from a container, although it can be loaded manually by dragging and dropping into the weapons icon or fitting window.

Standard container

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A standard cargo container, used for common freight.

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Standard containers are comparatively small and used in ships that don't have the capacity of a hauler or freighter to increase the size of their cargo space. Since standard containers have a higher capacity than volume, pilots can actually gain space by putting them into their ships. Getting multiple smaller one instead of a bigger container is less efficient and thereby standard containers are generally not used to sort or separate cargo. All the standard containers have a gain of 20% space.

Although there is the option to 'Launch for Self' when right-clicking them in the cargo hold of a ship in space, this will simply jettison them in their assembled state. This does not anchor them and other pilots can scoop the container, though doing so in a High-Sec system will generate a suspect timer. Be advised that the now assembled container is much larger and might not fit into the cargo hold again, since items can only be repackaged in a hangar. It will not despawn on downtime, though, so you have time to pick it up again.

Container Name	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)	Volume (Packaged) (m³)
Small Standard Container	120	100	10
Medium Standard Container	390	325	33
Large Standard Container	780	650	65

Secure container & audit log secure container

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This medium audit log container is fitted with a password-protected security lock.

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Secure Container and Audit Log Secure Container have the same basic functionality as the standard container, but their unique features are the ability to be deployed in space and being secure, which means that the items in them can be locked and unlocked by players and access to the container as a whole can be protected with a password. This makes them ideal to ad hoc share inventory space and items with a small group of people without the need to build a POS or Upwell structure. Secure containers have a gain of 20-30% space. Audit log secure containers additionally have the same logging features as station containers. For information on the logging ability of the audit log secure containers, see the topic below: Station container.

When deployed, lasts 30 days in space. To anchor them, the skill  Anchoring I is required, but not to use them as containers. Shooting an anchored container in space will get you concorded. Shooting at a secure/audit container in hisec, even if it is not anchored, will also get you concorded. A good reminder to set your safety settings correctly when in hisec.

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In compliance with the CONCORD 'clean space lanes' resolution, anchoring software upgrades forbid anchoring in solar systems with 0.8 security level or higher.

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... so, anchoring them can be done only in solar systems with security level BELOW 0.8

Since PATCH 2023-12-05.1 some systems changed to 0.8 and 0.9 as quoted below

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CONCORD has updated the security ratings of Villore, Bereye, Hek, and Parchanier to 0.9, 0.9, 0.8, and 0.9

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All containers anchored in those systems before this patch stay anchored if properly opened at least once a month.

Container Name	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)	Volume (Packaged) (m³)	Gain (%)
Small Secure Container	120	100	10	20
Medium Secure Container	390	325	33	20
Large Secure Container	780	650	65	20
Huge Secure Container	1,950	1,500	150	30
Giant Secure Container	3,900	3,000	300	30

Container Name	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)	Volume (Packaged) (m³)
Small Audit Log Secure Container	120	100	10
Medium Audit Log Secure Container	390	325	33
Large Audit Log Secure Container	780	650	65

Station container

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This is a Station Container. It is fitted with a password-protected security lock and computerized inventory auditing. Although the construction of a Station Container is much like that of other Cargo Containers a Station Container is far too big to fit in a ship's cargo hold and is only used for storage and inventory management at stations.

”

Sample Audit Log

Audit Container configuration options

Station containers can not be jettisoned nor launched into space. Assembled, they are too large to fit inside any ship's cargohold, meaning they can only be used in stations for organizational purposes. They contain auditing functionality, which stores a log showing:

• When the container was assembled
• When item stacks are locked and unlocked, alongside the quantity of the stack at the time of locking/unlocking
• When passwords are changed
• When passwords are entered successfully or unsuccessfully
• When the container's configuration is changed
• When the container was renamed

They can also be configured to require a password for doing certain actions, and to lock inserted items by default. They can not be repackaged, reprocessed or trashed if they contain log entries that are less than 3 weeks old.

Container Name	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)	Volume (Packaged) (m³)
Station Container	1,000,000	2,000,000	10,000
Station Vault Container	10,000,000	5,000,000	50,000
Station Warehouse Container	100,000,000	10,000,000	100,000

Freight container

Freight containers are most commonly used as organizational tools in freighters and jump freighters. While they do not have the same volume expansion that standard containers have, they are the only types of containers that can be placed in a (jump)freighter's cargo hold while assembled.

Packaged freight containers may be launched from a ship's cargo hold or fleet hangar, after which they will automatically assemble to provide their full storage capacity anywhere in space. Unlike secure containers, however, freight containers cannot be anchored or secured with a password, and will only survive in space until downtime unless they are in range of an onlined control tower. Freight containers will not repackage upon scooping them back up, and can only be collected from space if the ship's cargo hold or fleet hangar is large enough to hold the entire assembled container. This means that the giant and enormous freight containers can only be retrieved from space by freighters and jump freighters, as no other ship has the needed cargo space to do so.

Container Name	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)	Volume (Packaged) (m³)
Small Freight Container	1,000	1,000	10
Medium Freight Container	5,000	5,000	50
Large Freight Container	10,000	10,000	100
Huge Freight Container	50,000	50,000	500
Giant Freight Container	120,000	120,000	1,200
Enormous Freight Container	250,000	250,000	2,500

Overview

Container Type	Expanding Space	Password	Logging	Anchorable	Capacity (m³)
Standard Container					120	780
Secure Container					120	3,900
Audit Log Container					120	780
Freight Container					1,000	250,000
Station Container					1,000,000	100,000,000

Other containers

Jettison container

See also: Mining - Jetcan and GSC Mining

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This cargo container is flimsily constructed and may not survive the rigors of space for more than an hour or so.

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The jettison container, usually referred to as jetcan, is a special container, in that it can not be built or bought. Instead this container spawns whenever items get jettisoned into space, which it then contains. The container can not be scooped to the cargo hold and only lasts about two hours in space, since technically it counts as space debris for the game engine - like ship wrecks. They have a capacity of 55,000 m³ and items can be freely dropped into and recovered from them which makes them ideal for mining operations. Once all items have been removed, the jetcan despawns.

Mobile Tractor Unit

Main article: Mobile structures - Mobile Tractor Unit

The Mobile Tractor Unit (MTU) is a deployable structure. It does not tractor containers, only jetcans and wrecks. It tractors the closest wreck or can the owner has rights to take from within a 125-175km range at 1-1.5km/s velocity and then loots it. 100-125 m3 volume. Has 27,500 m3 capacity when deployed, but can only be filled with items from wrecks and containers looted by the MTU.

Mobile Depot

Main article: Mobile structures - Mobile Depot

Mobile depots are a deployable structure. Taking up 50-100  m³ in volume, they can store 3,000-4,000  m³ once deployed after a 60 second deploy timer. They can also be used for ship refitting by the owner. It can be scanned down, but if attacked after the deploy timer has completed, it will enter reinforcement for 2 days. Anchored mobile depots will last for up to 30 days in space.

FAQ & blurbs

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I loot a lot of secure and audit log containers from explorers I explode. For some reason they think It keeps their loot safe or something... It doesn't. The can can drop just like any other item (if it drops, it will contain all items inside, the is no separate drop roll for the contents, this makes it a bit of an all or nothing affair...) once looted, I am now the new owner of the can, and have the option to retrieve the password, set a new one, reprocess the can, etc...

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Can secure containers be probed out? As of Apocrypha, no. Secure containers CANNOT be probed down.

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External links

https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/disappearing-freight-containers-in-space